when Anna met kate
by reality slayed the dreamer
Summary: when anna harrison finds out she has AML she is devastated. But then she met kate Fitzgerald and they show that friendship blossoms in the strangest places and that Illness really does bring people together. Plz R&R! CHAPTER 2 UP!
1. the bruise

**I only own the Harrison's and Anna's friends. I do not own Kate Fitzgerald or any of the Fitzgerald's who will be in chapter 2. **

My alarm woke me up at seven-thirty and as usual the house was far from silent. Outside my window I can hear the traffic slowly building up as people started to go to work; the impatient honking of horns, people shouting for the car in front to move faster and the car behind to go slower. I can hear my father in the shower. He is singing – even if it is a little flat…okay very flat. My mother is downstairs and from the sound of clattering and china clunking together I gather that she is making breakfast for me and my sisters. Amy and Isabella are, by the sounds of things fighting so there was no change there. They were always fighting over something- Amy is 15 and thinks she knows everything whereas Isabella is 9 and has a very simple outlook on life. They constantly bicker about anything and everything, if I recall correctly, they have even had a fight about why the sky was blue!

I figured that I should really get up if I wanted to get to school on time. It was the first day back from the Easter holidays and I was dying to see my friends and catch up on all the gossip. I just got back from a 3 week trip to Canada yesterday and so I was a bit behind on all the goings-on around school. I go to Saint Elizabeth's school for Girls; it's a private school near Dorset- that's where I live- along with Amy.

I tried to lift my head off the pillow but fatigue washed over me and I had to put it back down again. I felt so tiered, even more so than usual and it seemed to radiate throughout my entire body, even my bones felt tiered and achy.

"Anna! C'mon get up, we gotta go to school in like 10 minuets and you're still not even up!" Amy threw open my door and pulled the covers off me,

"Where did you get that bruise?" She said looking at my leg "It's a whopper!"

"I don't know and I don't care" I replied deciding to brave the pain as I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

"Pass me my Shirt and blazer please Amy" she threw them over to me on her way out the door. I pulled them on as fast as I could but every time I moved my joints they throbbed and jolts of pain flew all over my body. I saw a giant purple bruise on my left thigh- this must have been what Amy was talking about! She had been right, it was huge! I gently placed a finger against the bluey-purple skin of the bruise and winced in pain as I gingerly pressed down on it. That's funny I thought, it must have taken a really big hit with something to create a bruise like that but as it looked fresh it couldn't have happened more than a day ago or else it would be starting to look brownish. But I don't remember hitting myself on anything apart from bumping the corner of Isabella's bed on her way out of the room last night- but that had only been a slight bump, not enough to make this bigger a bruise!

"Anna are you coming or not!" Amy shouted up the stairs

I took a quick look at the clock, it read **8:30**! Omg! I was gonna be late! I wandered into the bathroom and looked in the medicine cupboard for something to ease the pain; I found a couple of paracetamol and swallowed them with a glass of orange that I got from the kitchen

"Honey are you okay?" Mum asked "You look a bit peaky today"

"I'm fine, I'm just a little tiered that's all" I replied yawning to emphasize my point

"Okay, take it easy today Hun." She replied unconvinced but deciding to leave it there

"Bye mum, Sophie and Abby will be waiting for me" I said as I dashed out of the door. The paracetamol had taken the pain away but I desperately needed to get rid of the exhaustion if I were to be able to actually concentrate on my schoolwork- something I desperately needed to do if I were to get my grades up by the end of the semester.

"Anna, are you okay? Don't try and lie to me cos you know I'll be able to tell if you are." Amy broke the silence

"I've been feeling a little off ever since we got back; I think I might have caught something when we were there. I felt so tiered this morning and my joints were quite painful." I admitted "It's probably nothing."

"It may be so but I think you should get it checked out if it doesn't get better soon, you never know what the lakes on the Indian reservation had in them. Think of all that bacteria." She shuddered and pulled a face

"Fine" I looked up at her and smiled "You win, if it's no better by Wednesday then I'll tell mum to make an appointment with Dr. Reynard."

"good." She looked relieved but then she saw her friends and quickly put her school act on. " I mean it's not like I care or anything." She said trying to look tough in front of her mates.

"You don't fool me Amy Marie Harrison. I know the real you, the one who still sleeps with boo-boo the bunny!" I ran giggling over to where Sophie and Abby where waiting by the gates leaving my sister to try and get her way out of that one.

"What happened there? Your sister looks livid, did you two fight?" Abby eyed up the situation suspiciously

I quickly explained what I had said to my sister in front of her friends and the three of us burst out laughing. Amy valued her image highly and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize it, I knew what I had done was a little mean but I was sick of her trying to keep up her image and always putting it first!

"Anna" Sophie said once we had recovered from our laughing fit" That was mean!"

Sophie was the most sensible of my friends and kept Abby and me in check (we could easily get carried away in each others presence). We walked through the gates and made our way over to the yard where the rest of my friends were waiting

"Abby!" Lottie (her real name was Carlotta but she hated it) shouted as soon as she saw us "I saw your sister, she was muttering to her little gang something about skinning you alive when she gets home"

"Translated it means she's gonna shout for about ten seconds before deciding it's too much effort and giving up!" Anna replied with a smile playing on her lips

"Ha! Probably, you know how lazy Amy is!" A familiar voice put in

"Lucie! How was America?" Lottie and I said in unison

"It was brill!" Typical lucie, she was always so laid back

"Yeah, New York was so good!" Lucie's twin sister Lauren popped up behind her

"I can't wait for next year!" Lucie put in, playfully nudging her sister out of the way

The bell went for form time and we picked up our bags and pushed open the double doors that lead into their form room. The corridors of J block were packed and the noise was overwhelming and I felt the fatigue wash over me and the pain returned, the room was spinning and the people were dancing before my eyes. My head was killing me, it felt as if it as about to burst. I felt my legs give way beneath me and I crumpled to the floor then there was blackness….

**The next chapter will be up in the next few days all being well. Please R&R**

2


	2. meeting Kate

**So here it is…chapter 2! My beta reader has gone on holiday so I just had to make do. Sorry about the mistake in the previous chapter Lottie was meant to say Anna not Abby. Plz R&R . By the way this is set before the book so that's why Kate is younger.**

Sophia Harrison's (Mum) P.O.V

"Where's the stupid phone gone now?" I muttered under my breath. I was looking for that damn phone; it always seems to go missing! I followed the sound upstairs and into Anna's room, she was always on the phone to somebody so the fact it was in her room came as no surprise.

"Hello, this is the Harrison residence." Putting the receiver to my ear

"Is that Sophia Harrison?" A warm female voice enquired

"Yes, that would be me."

"Do you have a daughter called Anna?" She asked in a level tone

"Yes, has anything happened?" I asked, panic rising in my voice

"Your daughter was rushed in to Saint johns general hospital via ambulance about 10 minuets ago." She responded calmly

"oh my god, are you sure? Can I come and see her." The panic in my voice was evident

"Yes, when you arrive please enquire as to where she is at the front desk. Thank you and goodbye." She said rather impatiently and hanging up on me.

I ran downstairs and grabbed my car keys off the kitchen counter and went out the back door, dashing across the front lawn to where my car sat on the end of our drive. I unlocked the door and got in, sinking into the soft leather seat and grabbing hold of the steering wheel. Shoving the key in the ignition the car started with a jolt, I took my foot off the clutch and gently pressed down the accelerator. The car pulled out of the driveway and out onto the main road. What on earth is going on? I get a phone call saying my daughter has been rushed into hospital by ambulance; I don't even know if she is conscious or not! It could just be a broken leg!

After about 15 minuets I pulled into the hospital's multi-storey car park and quickly reversed into to the first open space I could find. I threw open my door, took the key out of the ignition and dashed into the hospital, locking the car behind me. The electronic sliding doors seemed to take forever to open. I walked up to the front desk where a rather plump looking lady sat.

"I am here to see Anna Harrison" I said to her

"Are you close family?"

"Of course I bloody am! I'm her mother!" I said angrily. Why did they ask so stupid questions?

"She is in cubical 6 awaiting test results." She replied in that same infuriatingly calm tone that the lady on the phone used.

I hurried over to where the sign said **cubicles 1-8** and hurriedly found cubical 6 but the curtains had been pulled around so I couldn't see my beautiful daughter. I was about to pull back a corner of the curtain so I could slip through when I was interrupted by someone behind me

"Excuse me but what do you think you are doing?" I turned around to see a nurse looking at me sternly

"Looking for my daughter, I was told she was in cubical 6."

"What is her name?" She said, still eyeing me suspiciously

"Anna Harrison, she's 12." I said

"Oh, she's just through here" The nurse's face softened into a sympathetic smile as she opened the curtain enough for me to get through.

"What happened to her?" tears were threatening to emerge so I swallowed them back as I set eyes on my daughter who, this morning had looked a little tiered but other than that perfectly healthy! Now she was lying on a hospital bed, her eyes shut so you could see the pale purple veins criss-crossing across her eyelids, her dark black hair fanned out above her head. She had tubes coming out of her left right and centre. She looked so ill yet so angelic at the same time.

"She collapsed at school and hit her head pretty bad, which knocked her unconscious. The doctor will be here soon." The nurse said gently before leaving to tend to another patient

I went over to the bed and sat on one of the chairs. I took my daughters hand in mine and stroked it

"Baby, can you hear me, please wake up." I said almost pleadingly

She twitched her fingers slightly and I took it as a good sign. Her eyelids fluttered a few times then were still

"C'mon baby, you can do it. Open your eyes" I encouraged

Her eyelids fluttered again but this time they opened to reveal her beautiful jade green eyes.

"Mum" She croaked

"Yes baby. I love you so much hunny."

"where am I?" She asked confused

"You're in the hospital, you collapsed at school" I explained, just as the doctor walked into the room

"I see you're awake now Anna. I'm Dr Stanley." He said in a kind voice

"Have you found out what's wrong yet?" I put in worriedly

"Ah, you must be Anna's mother"

"Yes. The lady at the desk said that you had done some tests on her. Why?" I asked slightly panicked

"We did some routine bloods to check for any infections" he said shutting the curtain that he had opened to get in. "Anna's were most unusual…"

"Why?" I interrupted

"She seems to have an abnormally low white blood cell count"

"What does that mean?"

"It could mean that Anna has an auto-immune deficiency or something else entirely. It could just be a simple lab error. I'd like to send her for more tests just to make sure."

He handed me an appointment card. It said;

**Dr **

**Paediatrician**

**Oncology **

**3:25**

"Oncology, But that's cancer!" My worst fears were coming true

"Mrs Harrison, it could mean nothing" The doctor said "I'll arrange for a nurse to take you and Anna to oncology." With that he left the cubical

A few minuets later a nurse arrived with a wheelchair and gently lifted Anna into it, being careful not to tangle the wire and tubes still on her. I got up and opened the curtain for her.

I followed her down lots of corridors that all looked the same; Bleached white walls, blue signs with long names, ward numbers, random bits of art work by various artists to try and brighten things up. When we finally arrived at oncology we had to go up in a lift to get to the paediatric section. There were kids dotted all over the place, they were so thin and frail with the same tell-tale bald head. Looking through the glass windows into the different rooms they all seem so sick yet they mostly seemed happy. Parents with worried faces were standing watch over their kids or talking hurriedly to doctors in hushed voices, paranoid that their kids might hear.

"Mrs Harrison!" the nurse's voice broke through my dazed thoughts "You are to wait here until a doctor comes to see you"

"okay, thanks" I took the handles of the wheelchair and turned her round to face me, I sat down on one of the dull green-grey hospital chairs.

Kate Fitzgerald's P.O.V

A new person arrived on the ward today; she is waiting with her mother now. Many people have waited there with looks of hope and also anguish on their faces. You cant help feeling sorry for them, they are waiting to hear the news that will change their lives forever, you don't come here unless the doctors are sure. The new girl was wheeled in here about half an hour ago with wires and tubes all over her, she seemed to fit in here; she had a pale face that seemed almost sunken, her skin was drawn tight over her bones and she looked scared. Her mother had walked in here with a hint of hope that had disappeared as soon as she walked in, this place does that to people; it drains any feelings of hope and instead replaces them with fear and uncertainty

"Kate!" My mother's voice interrupted my thoughts

"Yeah" I replied

"I just went to speak to the new girl and her mother and they seem really nice" she said

"What happened?" She had spiked my curiosity

"The girl, Anna had collapsed at school and was brought here by ambulance, her white blood count is very low." She said

"Basically she is now one of us." I said

"They just need to find some abnormal cells to confirm it."

"So they need some of her bone marrow." I said

I went back to finishing my collage of my family and friends for my wall at home, all the while trying to catch a glimpse of the girl, Anna.

Anna's P.O.V

The doctor walked up to me and my mum carrying an armful of folders.

"Hello Anna" He seemed nice enough to me "I have your results"

"Is it good?" My mum asked

"Not really. It looks as though you have some sort of luekemic condition but we will have to do a bone marrow aspiration and a lumbar puncture to confirm the diagnosis."

"Oh my god, please, you have to have made a mistake! Anna can't have leukaemia!" My mum was starting to cry as the doctor walked off to end to his other patients.

A woman came up to my mum and put her arm around her trying to comfort her

I couldn't have cancer, I was too young, and I'm not meant to be ill yet! But as I looked around I saw that none of these people were meant to be either, they were ranging from toddlers to teenagers but they all had one thing in common; they were all ill. There were fifteen year olds chatting with nine year olds in the way that they would do if they had been friends for years, there were eight year olds picking up and playing with the toddlers. It showed that illness really did bring people together.

About 10 minuets later a nurse came to take me for the bone marrow aspiration and the lumbar puncture to check for luekemic cells. When I got back my mum was deep in conversation with the lady who had comforted her earlier

"Anna, this is Sarah. She has a daughter here, Kate who is a few yeas older than you, you two could be friends." Mum said pointing at a window through which I could see a girl no older than 14. She was smiling at me

"Yeah, that would be good!" I smiled back at her

The doctor walked over to us from the desk in the centre of the room with a sad expression on his face; he looked as if he had been doing this for too long, telling families the worst news they could ever hear.

"I'm afraid the results were positive, Anna has ALL -acute lymphoblastic leukaemia" the doctor said "it's quite far along so we're going to start chemo right away. I'm sorry."

He went over to the nurse's station and muttered something to them. One came over and wheeled me through a door into a separate room with one single bed in the middle of the room.

"This will be your room; you can get up and go about the ward only if someone says you can but only before or after chemo." She said helping me onto the bed

My mum was outside talking to Sarah, she was looking distressed and I guessed that she was thinking about what to tell dad.

"Can I come in?" I heard a muffled voice through the door

"Sure" I said, I was glad to have some company, this was so overwhelming

"Hi" She smiled, her eyes twinkling "I'm Kate"

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's kinda long but it just turned out that way. Please R&R.**


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